AUGUST 27, 2000

Berger sees record disappear

BMW director Gerhard Berger saw his long-standing 'team-mate' record broken by McLaren pair Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard but admitted he was glad to rid himself of the feat.

The Austrian drove with current Prost driver Jean Alesi at Ferrari and Benetton from 1993 to 1997 in 77 Grands Prix, but saw the McLaren duo exceed that figure in Belgium.

But Berger, who celebrated his birthday at Spa by seeing his two drivers, Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button, both claim championship points, claimed that he would have gladly traded the record for a few more Grand Prix victories.

Berger said: "The record I got with Jean is not something I am really proud of. I would have rather had more Grand Prix wins and a championship.

"But it tells you a lot about the McLaren team. People don't really know what it is like inside McLaren. They are a great team and they have a lot of supportive people.

"Mika has done excellent and Ron Dennis has got the best out of him, you can see it in his results they have been getting and the way he drove in Spa is fantastic."